Mesa, AZ Sign Regulations: Freeway-Facing Signs (2026)

Under Mesa City Code, Title 11, Chapter 43, § 11-43-7, a Freeway Landmark Monument (FLM) is a large sign structure permitted only on development sites zoned Limited Commercial, General Commercial, Planned Employment Park, Light Industrial or General Industrial (or Planned Community/Infill District-2 sites where an FLM is specified in an approved Community Plan). The site must be at least thirty (30) contiguous acres and have frontage on both a freeway and an intersecting arterial street. Authorization requires recommendation from the Design Review Board, recommendation from the Planning and Zoning Board, approval and issuance of a Council Use Permit under § 11-70-6, and a sign permit under Title 11, Chapter 47.

Eligible sites get one FLM, or two if the site has more than 2,000 linear feet of freeway frontage and is 60 or more contiguous acres. Sign area is capped at one square foot per two lineal feet of freeway or arterial frontage, never exceeding 750 square feet. Maximum height is sixty (60) feet including support structures and embellishments, though the City Council may approve a modification up to ninety (90) feet if a 60-foot sign would not be visible in time for drivers to safely exit the freeway.

Spacing rules bar placing an FLM within 2,000 feet of another FLM on the same side of the freeway, within 1,000 feet of a billboard, and generally within 500 feet (never within 400 feet) of a Residential Zoning District or residential use unless part of a mixed-use development. The minimum setback from the freeway right-of-way is zero feet, but an FLM must sit within 250 feet of the freeway right-of-way, and no portion may encroach into the right-of-way itself.